The Restaurant Re-Review

Sometimes I have a great experience at a restaurant and want to tell you all about it right away. I am always so excited to go back hoping that it lives up to my expectations. Some places, like Julians and Pane Vino are always great time after time, and some places turn out to be one hit wonders - you know the one's that blow you away and then when you expect more they just can't deliver.

So here are two very different re-reviews of places that have fallen since my first visit - one that I will be giving a second try and the other I will not be returning to.

 

First up is Dante's located on Main Street in East Greenwich.

When Dante's Kitchen opened I was stoked. Southern Breakfast? Heck yes! It was awesome; everything from the yummy chicken and waffles to the coffee served in mason jars. So when my boyfriend moved back to Rhode Island I was very excited to bring him to what looked to be like one of my new favorite breakfast spots. And then they kinda let me down.

I ordered the pulled pork hash which came with two poached eggs and a homemade biscuit. The hash was good, although it was kind of lacking in flavor and my eggs were not cooked through. J ordered scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese grits. The sausage patties were like hockey pucks: very dry and flavorless. The waitress brought over a plate of bacon which was very good and a nice gesture on their part. The cheese grits were extremely watery and had a few shreds of cold cheese on top. Pretty disappointing seeing as how blown away I was on my first visit to Dante's. I am a pro at finding amazing breakfast places and let me tell you, I felt like I was dropping the ball a little. Inconsistency is not what you want in a restaurant, but I am hoping that this was just a one time fluke. I am still wanting to go back to Dante's for lunch and give their Fried green tomato BLT a try.

 

 

The second place I have been a few times before and have had mediocre experiences all around. Not amazing but not bad, but after my last visit to Mediterraneos on Federal Hill- me and J will not be returning. I had a $35 dollar gift card so we decided to go and have some drinks at the bar and split an appetizer. Their antipasto salad sounded like a no brainer. The menu description was as followed: Mixed selection of imported Parma prosciutto, hot soppressara, sharp imported provolone, Parmigiano-Reggiano, house made mozzarella, stuffed cherry peppers, grilled marinated eggplant, olive tapenade crostini, red and yellow pickled peppers, potato croquets, arancini, and assorted olives.. Dang. We were excited. This sounded wonderful and like more than enough food for the two of us to share. We were wrong. The tiny round dinner plate came out with one slice of the prosciutto, one small taste of each of the hot items, a couple cubes of cheese, and a over abundance of marinated peppers. The entire plate tasted like vinegar. It was quite overpowering.

The second issue was that we could not even hold a conversation because the bartender was standing directly in front of us on her phone the entire time. I felt like this was not only rude but unnecessary seeing as that the bar (which only had two other people at it) was quite large and she could have easily stood on the other end where no one was sitting. Feeling quiote awkward we paid our check and left.

 I still had a gift card to Pane Vino so we walked down there, got a table, ordered an appetizer, some drinks, and had a lovely time as we do every time we visit Pane Vino. Greqat food, polite service, and a romantic atmosphere-what more could you ask for?

 

We will never make the mistake of going anywhere on the hill but Pane Vinno when we are in the mood for a nice antipasto. They are simply the best.

 

-Sorry for the very wordy post but I felt like I needed to share these experiences with my fellow foodies!

-What is your favorite restaurant on the hill? Is there somewhere that you consider a one hit wonder? I would love to hear!